Guest Post: 11 Magnum photographers who changed the world

9. Philip Jones Griffiths
Nationality: British (Welsh)
Quote: “The ability to keep things in perspective is very important for a journalist. In a tense situation you need the ability to be there, yet somehow step aside; to keep a cool head and keep working without getting frustrated.”

Griffiths’ coverage of the Vietnam War showed the conflict from a Vietnamese perspective, a controversial angle that made it difficult to sell the images to US magazines. In 1971 he published Vietnam Inc, which had a significant impact on American perceptions of the war. Griffiths also documented the aftermath of the war, photographing people who had been affected by Agent Orange. This powerful series aimed to raise awareness of the harmful effects of the poisonous herbicide and helped expose some of the individual stories that get lost in the reporting of a wider conflict.

10. Philippe Halsman
Nationality: American/Latvian
Quote: “Most people stiffen with self-consciousness when they pose for a photograph. Lighting and fine camera equipment are useless if the photographer cannot make them drop the mask, at least for a moment, so he can capture on his film their real, undistorted personality and character.”

Halsman collaborated with Salvador Dali to create surreal images that were groundbreaking at the time and remain so today. In 1941 he photographed a solemn Albert Einstein, who during the shoot expressed his regret for his role in the development of the atom bomb. This became one of Halsman’s most famous images, which was later used on a 1966 postage stamp.